Modulating Retinal Degeneration in Zebrafish

The fish were randomly assigned to either the uninhibited or the inhibited group. In the latter group, the TGFβ/activin pathway was blocked using the small molecule inhibitor SB431542 (Tocris, Bristol, UK). The inhibitor was dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and added to the water of the fish tank, beginning one day prior to the induction of retinal degeneration, and was refreshed every third day. The final concentration in the water of the fish tank was 20 μM SB431542 and 0.1% DMSO. The uninhibited fish were held in water with 0.1% DMSO. Retinal degeneration was induced in both groups by placing the zebrafish in water containing 150 mg/l N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU, Sigma, St. Louis, MO, USA) for one hour as previously described by our group [14 (link)].